A good music programme can make you curious about an artist you have never heard of. A great one can make you reconsider the music you thought you knew. Esplanade’s Mosaic Music Series has spent more than two decades creating room for both experiences, bringing established innovators and emerging originals into the same musical conversation.
Launched in 2003, Mosaic expanded into the beloved ten-day Mosaic Music Festival from 2005 to 2014 before returning to a year-round format. Its history spans the electronic experiments of Aphex Twin, the Brazilian psychedelia of Os Mutantes, as well as the distinctive musical worlds of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Robert Glasper. What connects those bookings is a faith in adventurous musicians and equally adventurous audiences. Mosaic has given listeners reasons to venture beyond their usual listening habits, while creating opportunities to experience influential artists up close.
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Their upcoming year-end slate carries that philosophy forward. Here’s a closer look at the artists and what to expect from their upcoming shows.
Patrick Watson: Uh Oh Tour
Many listeners encounter Patrick Watson through a moment of overwhelming feeling: the slow-building ache of The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘To Build a Home’, on which he sings, or the tender piano and French-language intimacy of ‘Je te laisserai des mots’. Both are compelling introductions to a songwriter whose music can make a small gesture feel enormous. Across his chamber-pop arrangements and work for film, Watson has developed a particular gift for making atmosphere feel personal.
His latest album, Uh Oh, lends new significance to that familiar vulnerability. A period of voice loss forced Watson to consider how his songs might live through other singers, reshaping the project around collaboration. Released in September 2025, the record features Martha Wainwright, MARO, November Ultra and Charlotte Cardin, among others, opening his songwriting to different timbres and emotional perspectives. Its recording process preserved a sense of immediacy: much of the material was captured with two microphones and very few takes.
That background makes this tour especially intriguing. A voice so central to Watson’s appeal became the starting point for an album about listening, collaboration and adapting to uncertainty. The familiar songs offer an immediate emotional connection; Uh Oh provides a reason to listen beyond them, towards an artist discovering how much his musical world can accommodate.
Date: 24 November, 7.30PM
Venue: Singtel Waterfront Theatre
Prices: S$65 and S$90
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Diana Krall
Returning to Esplanade after her sold-out Singapore appearance in 2024, Diana Krall brings a musical sensibility whose apparent ease rewards closer attention. The pleasure often lies in the details: a phrase held back, a lyric allowed to settle, the relationship between her piano playing and the grain of her voice. Albums such as When I Look in Your Eyes and The Look of Love brought that approach to a vast audience, establishing a recognisable intimacy even within expansive arrangements.
For a more recent perspective on her recorded work, This Dream of You is a rewarding place to spend time. Released in 2020, the self-produced album draws from sessions made with her late collaborator Tommy LiPuma, placing ‘Autumn in New York’, ‘How Deep Is the Ocean’ and the Bob Dylan title song within an unhurried collection. Its appeal lies in the care given to familiar material, and the emotional distinctions that emerge when a singer gives each line space.
Krall is an inviting guide for anyone finding their way into jazz. Her repertoire offers plenty of familiar melodies to hold on to, while her instincts as an improviser leave room for discovery. That balance helps explain her enduring appeal: the songs are welcoming, and there is always more to hear within them.
Dates: 24 and 25 November, 8PM
Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall
Prices: S$88, S$118, S$158, S$198, S$238 and S$268
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DOMi & JD BECK: WHO ASKED? Tour
The first attraction of DOMi & JD BECK is often sheer disbelief: how are two kids producing all of that? The French keyboardist and American drummer built their reputation on densely interlocking playing, irreverent humour and an affinity with jazz and hip-hop that made genre boundaries seem fairly incidental. Their 2022 debut, NOT TiGHT, brought Herbie Hancock, Anderson .Paak, Thundercat and other collaborators into that world, earning two Grammy nominations along the way.
July’s WHO ASKED? makes their return particularly worth investigating. Performing with the Metropole Orkest prompted the pair to explore what their compositions could become with a much broader instrumental palette. Their second album pursues those possibilities through orchestral arrangements, while introducing their own singing throughout the record. That combination changes where the listener’s attention falls: the remarkable instrumental passages now coexist with the more direct connection of a sung melody.
The development gives their Singapore return an added dimension. Alongside the pleasure of watching their coordination at close range, there is the opportunity to hear how a partnership celebrated for its playing is growing as a songwriting unit. In the Annexe Studio, the exchange between keyboard and drums should be especially absorbing. Familiarity with jazz theory is optional; curiosity about how two musicians can think and move together is plenty.
Date: 1 December, 8PM
Venue: Esplanade Annexe Studio
Price: S$75; standing room only
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